Loose sheets of paper commonly are bound together by punching holes proximate one of the sides of the sheets and then binding the sheets together, often in a folder or file, by means of a U-shaped paper fastener. Such fasteners typically are constructed of a thin metal strip having a cross body and a pair of ribbon-like, bendable, posts or tabs which extend up through aligned or registered holes to enable the stack of sheets to be fastened into the file or folder. Such fastener systems are manufactured, for example, by Acco International, Inc. of Wheeling, Ill. and sold under the trademark ACCO Fasteners. U-shaped paper fasteners are often mounted to files by punching holes in the file, but they also can be pre-mounted in the file. Perhaps the most common form is the two-hole fastener formed of tin-plated or enamel-coated steel.
While bendable ribbon-like file fastening systems have been found to be highly desirable for binding stacks of paper together, there are certain problems which commonly are encountered in connection with using such fastening systems It is often necessary, for example, for the user to be able to have access to a sheet or sheets which are in the middle or at the bottom of the stack of bound papers. A common reason for such mid-file access is the need to photocopy papers from the file. When the sheets above the sheet to be accessed are removed from the U-shaped file fastener, it is very difficult to maintain the vertical registration or alignment of the punched holes in the paper sheets. Thus, when the copying is done and the file is to be reassembled, a tedious process of realignment or sheet-by-sheet remounting of the paper sheets onto the fastener posts must be undertaken. As the number of sheets increases, the problem of maintaining the alignment of punched holes and/or remounting the sheets to the fasteners increases.
Attempts to lessen or overcome the problem of maintaining alignment of punched sheets of paper when they are removed from the file and paper fastener have largely been based upon redesigning the entire paper fastening system. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,848 to Waegemann, for example, discloses a paper fastener system in which very specialized posts are provided with relatively complex attachment structures on the ends of the posts. These structures mate with complimentary ends of a temporary paper storage attachment so that file papers can be slidably transferred from the fastening posts to the paper storage device. The Waegemann paper fastening and transferring system, however, is not suitable for use with conventional paper fasteners which do not have the necessary interlocking end structures. Thus, there is a vast supply of existing files for which the specialized Waegemann temporary storage device could only be used by replacement of the existing paper fasteners with the fastening posts of the type shown in Waegemann.
There are other posts-based binder systems in which male and female posts are carried by separable halves of a binder. Typical of these systems are the binders disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,874,031 to Dawson and U.S. Pat. No. 2,836,182 to Gramacy. It is possible to separate the binder halves with a portion of the stack of papers retained in alignment by the telescoping posts in one half of the binder and the remainder of the stack maintained in alignment by the posts in the other half of the binder. This system requires relatively expensive and specialized telescoping posts and binders. It is not suitable for use with conventional bendable file fasteners. Additionally, use of telescoping binder posts requires that the stack portions be manipulated while mounted to the respective binder halves, which is sometimes relatively awkward.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for handling paper which can be used in conjunction with conventional, bendable, ribbon-like, paper fastening systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a paper handling apparatus which allows easy separation of sheets of paper from the interior of a stack of sheets, without disturbing or losing the alignment of the sheets removed from the fastened stack.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a paper handling apparatus which facilitates the remounting of separated sheets of the stack back onto the paper fastening posts for rebinding of the stack.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a paper handling apparatus which is durable, compact, easy to maintain, has a minimum number of components, is easy to use by unskilled personnel, and is economical to manufacture.
The apparatus of the present invention has other objects and features of advantage which will be more readily apparent from the following description of the Best Mode Of Carrying Out The Invention and the appended claims, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.